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Here are five popular myths about air purifiers in India. In an exclusive interaction with News18 Tech, Blueair Director (West and South Asia Region) Girish Bapat shares the reality.

Here are five popular myths about air purifiers in India. In an exclusive interaction with News18 Tech, Blueair Director (West and South Asia Region) Girish Bapat shares the reality. (Image: News18.com)

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After every Diwali, concerns over air pollution grab headlines. Soon, we forget about it by doing practically nothing. There is no denying the fact that the air we breathe is really bad, however, it seems only big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and others are waking up to air pollution.

Despite knowing the hazards of breathing unclean air, we are still reluctant to even put on a cheap simple mask while travelling through dusty roads. Also, with brands eyeing this opportunity to scare people into buying expensive gadgets, campaigns to educate people on air pollution and purifiers have started to appear gimmicky.

Do air purifiers really work?

In India, it is difficult to convince people about the usefulness of a new appliance which costs more than regular items like refrigerators, washing machines, microwaves etc, especially when there are no ‘visible’ results to show as such.

Honestly, if you buy an air purifier today and expect a difference to happen immediately, then be assured nothing as such happens immediately. Most consumers will find the air purifier useless as the appliance will sit at some corner of a room, silently blowing air vertically.

Of course, there are PM 2.5 meters to prove the effectiveness of air purifiers, but consumers are not much willing to buy those numbers.

However, it is when you stop using an air purifier after continuous usage of a month at least that its worth can be felt. The difference can be easily felt when you sleep in a room with closed doors and windows as it is mostly the case during winters.

Yes, air purifier work for real. Just open the filter to see the thin lining of particles on it. If it wasn’t for that filter, the dust would have been inside your lungs.

Here are five popular myths about air purifiers in India. In an exclusive interaction with News18 Tech, Blueair Director (West and South Asia Region) Girish Bapat shares the reality.

Indoor air purifiers are useless as there is no measure to control outdoor air quality

Given the outdoor air quality is already bad, what is the point in buying air purifiers for home when you can’t carry it around? The reality as shared by Bapat is a different story.

“The air pollution levels inside a room can be up to three times more than what it is outdoors,” he said. This is mainly because of dust, smoke from cooking, incense sticks, etc, dead skin from human or pets among others.

The actual time spent on roads might be less. People generally spend around half the day in their homes and another major chunk is spent at their workplace. “So, more than what you breathe outdoors, you should be concerned about the air inside your home or office,” he explained.

Air Purifiers doesn’t work when doors and windows of the room are kept open

The reality is air purifiers are more effective when doors and windows are kept open as fresh air circulation helps in eliminating particles faster. “Also, the fan of the air purifier can be run at lower levels when doors and windows are kept open,” added Bapat.

The true test of air purifiers is that it should kill odour

Not all air purifiers are supposed to kill all types of odour. The filters are meant to trap particles mainly. To eliminate odour, consumers will have to opt for different activated carbon filters. HEPA filters alone do not kill odour.

“While buying an air purifier, consumers will have to understand that certain activated carbon filter combinations are meant to kill certain type of odour. There are several combo filters which target tobacco smoke and other related odour. On the other hand, there are filters which removes pollutants only,” he said.

Air Purifiers are effective only when you are near it

Every air purifier comes with a certain Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) rating in cubic feet per minute (CFM). This rating states that the air purifier will clean the air of the entire room given its capacity. So, where you sit near it or away from it, it doesn’t matter as long as the air purifier is capable of catering to the entire room size.

AC rooms doesn’t require air purifiers

Air conditioning has nothing to do with air purification as it is ineffective against dust, pollen and in fact moulds add to the problem.

Feel free to share your opinion on air purifiers in the comment section below.